Disasters!
DISASTERS!
Coming so soon after the anniversary of the World Trade Center, it should be noted here and now that there is no comparison between the heading of this ViewPoint and that terrifying event. Nevertheless, it is acknowledged that the word 'disaster' can, and does, conjure up events of all kinds and brought the word into a tight focus only because it is necessary every now and then to recognize that what befalls the earth and the inhabitants of Planet Earth are almost beyond belief. Thus, without further ado, here are a few of the most devastating disasters ever recorded.
KRAKATAU On August 26, 1883, in the Indonesian complex of the far Pacific, a long dormant volcano blew up with such force and fury that the island on which it perched, and held an entire city, sank into the Pacific taking with it 36,000 souls who may never have known what had happened. As a bi-product of its awesome size and force, after effects were felt around the world for two years! From startlingly beautiful sunsets thousands of miles distant, to choking dust storms across the globe, Krakatau became the most significant disasterous event of the late 19th century.
TUNGOSKA No doubt a word you have never noted previously. Located in the distant reaches of Siberia, this geographic dot an any map, became the center of a world wide gasp of incredability. This was the center of an explosion, which, to this day is unexplained - despite the fact that its power and force leveled over 80,000,000 trees cutting a swarth of destruction over 800 square miles in Siberia. Photographs taken shortly after the event show a scene of countless denuded trees appearing to be telegraph poles strewn over miles of forest - endlessly! Scientists from all disciplines sought an explanation. The only one to survive the more than a century, and a thousand or more, books and papers with all kinds of answers, is that a meteorite had come perilously close to earth and without touching land, it exploded. Historians, have ventured that had this happened on the Eastern Seaboard of the USA, it would have obliterated all cities and most life, from Washington to Boston! Despite the havoc wrought to the forests of Siberia, no human is known to have perished - mostly because of the remote area where the explosion had centered. The handful of survivors living within earshot of the blast subsequently were interviewed and told of ear splittng noise and fierce windstorms that followed - and, the mighty fear that, in fact, the world had come to an end! To this day, there has never been an explosion as widespread, nor as potentially damaging. Tungoska belongs on your map.
THE FLU The human race has endured countless bouts with disease - at times, in days before the discovery of medical knowledge and application, perhaps the raging diseases threatened whole populations. Certainly villages and small towns were devastated leaving virtually no trace of human occupancy or dwelling. But until 1918 the world had never experience a global threat as fearful at the Flu Pandemic of post World War I. As the disease raced from country to country and continent to continent, spread in part by the entry and departure of sick soldiers from all over the world, the numbers of stricken persons increased from over 50,000,000 to nearly 100,000,000! It was nature's most awesome attack on the human race. Today, we live in a world so traumatized by what can happen should another Pandemic happen anywhere, we take precautions, that may appear to be excessive - but oh! so necessary!
Just studying a handful of recorded disasters can make one conscious of the human inability to control life on earth. One does not have to live in the shadow of a volcano, or on top of a known earth quake fault, or even in a quiet, peaceful garden spot to be a victim of 'fate' - as the only way we can deal with what can, and does, happen to end it all. Not to demean in any shape or form the stifling loss of thousands at the World Trade center - where man's inhumanity to man, played out in dramatic form, it would be a serious omission from this piece if we did not mention that war - by armies, aircraft, terrorists, or maniacs, is an ever present threat to our survival on earth. The death toll in WWII is a living reminder that there is no way to mourn the loss of a single person when events far beyond our reach snuff out lives without so much as a warning shot!
Because we are caring, religious, intelligent humans, we memorialize the dead. It is appropriate and necessary. September 11th will alway be worthy of our heartfelt attention. Just know that disasters can be as devastating and are rarely memorialized except for the occasional TV special. Our focus on life needs to include what happens when life is ended suddenly, arbitrarily, deliberately - by nature, by design, by lunatics, by events that are the price of being here in this wondrous world.
Richard Carlton
September 15, 2010
Issue No. 18
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